Coming off the unexpected mammoth success of Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds probably has his pick of some pretty excellent projects at the moment. After a series of Box Office misses like Turbo, RIPD, and Self/Less, and some underseen work in offbeat indies like The Voices and Mississippi Grind, Reynolds' long long long-in-development passion project was the perfect vehicle to remind everyone of his unique skill set as an actor. Reynolds is one of the rare actors who can easily bounce between playing the leading man, the comedic relief, and the action hero -- getting to be all three in Deadpool -- and with Deadpool topping The Matrix Reloaded to become the global highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, Reyolds is back on top at the moment as an industry golden boy.
Now, he's looking to line up his next X-Men free project and Deadline reports that Reyolds is in early talks to lead the romantic dramedy, The Rosie Project. Based on Graeme Simison's book of the same name, the story follows a genetics professor who devises a very specific questionnaire to help find him to the perfect partner. He is thrown for a loop when he meets Rosie Jarman, a swearing, smoking, chronically late bartender, who fills none of his criteria for his technically perfect woman, turning his regimented life upside down. The script comes from (500) Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.
The Rosie Project was originally developed as a directorial vehicle for Phil Lord and Chris Miller before they departed to helm the Star Wars Han Solo movie. Jennifer Lawrence boarded after they dropped off and Richard Linklater scooped it up stortly after. A few months later, Lawrence exited The Rosie Project to star in Darren Aronofsky's next film, and Linklater followed her off the project almost immediately after.
No new director is attached to the film yet, but if Ryan Reynolds signs on, whoever comes aboard will have to be able to work around the Deadpool 2 schedule, which is top priority for Reynolds at the moment. Fox has yet to announce the release date for the Deadpool sequel, but they do have two superhero release dates slated: October 6, 2017 and January 12, 2018. Given that Deadpool is now the studio's highest grossing X-Men movie ever, and the fact that Gambit was recently delayed, it's probable that first date belongs to Deadpool 2. Which means the sequel would need to roll into production in short order.
For now, Reynolds is attached to star in Daniel Espinosa’s sci-fi project Life with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeff Wadlow’s action comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
